I know people who admire my new S3 are constantly telling me "wow..just look at the letters in the word "Otterbox" and how great they look. <-----NOT.

Who looks at a phone for the external features like band around edge, look and feel of covers? Absolutely everyone who has something to say about my phone looks at the screen. I mean...when you use a phone, what do you look at to interact with it? The chrome ring around the edge? no... The shell design? No. The back cover? No..
You interact with the screen...that's the most admired and looked-at piece of the phone, and it's the only thing most people who observe it briefly will notice. They aren't going to say "well, I was going to get one, but you have a little ding on the edge, and now I'm totally turned-off, think I'll just get the $0.00 LG Viper instead"...

People aren't worried about external 'dings'...the phone's casing could be enclosed in a zip-loc baggie..long as the screen is big and it does "neat" things, people aren't going to focus on such things as that. Bottom line, people aren't interested in that when they are looking for a phone. The external color and look was SOMEWHAT influential on my decision, but the main thing I was concerned with was screen size and the speed of the phone/life of battery. Nothing else really mattered, and the percentage of influence 'looks' of the external casing had wasn't enough to sway me away from it.

I appreciate the attitude of the OP more than the phone. He dropped his phone and that wasn't his providers fault or samsungs fault. The thread didn't read F so and so i dropped my phone and waaaaaaaaaa! Somebody owes me a brand new phone! He made the best of the situation like an adult and i can appreciate that.

I know people who admire my new S3 are constantly telling me "wow..just look at the letters in the word "Otterbox" and how great they look. <-----NOT.

Who looks at a phone for the external features like band around edge, look and feel of covers? Absolutely everyone who has something to say about my phone looks at the screen. I mean...when you use a phone, what do you look at to interact with it? The chrome ring around the edge? no... The shell design? No. The back cover? No..
You interact with the screen...that's the most admired and looked-at piece of the phone, and it's the only thing most people who observe it briefly will notice. They aren't going to say "well, I was going to get one, but you have a little ding on the edge, and now I'm totally turned-off, think I'll just get the $0.00 LG Viper instead"...

People aren't worried about external 'dings'...the phone's casing could be enclosed in a zip-loc baggie..long as the screen is big and it does "neat" things, people aren't going to focus on such things as that. Bottom line, people aren't interested in that when they are looking for a phone. The external color and look was SOMEWHAT influential on my decision, but the main thing I was concerned with was screen size and the speed of the phone/life of battery. Nothing else really mattered, and the percentage of influence 'looks' of the external casing had wasn't enough to sway me away from it.

I like that you typed 4 paragraphs arguing that no one cares what a phone looks like in a thread started by a guy who clearly cares what his phone looks like.